Understanding
by VeryBerry96
Summary: Suddenly stumbling back into the human world in the 21st century, Ciel and Sebastian learn that a lot has changed. A mysterious girl offers to help them explore this new world but what motives does she have? And why isn't she afraid when she learns that they are demons? Set after Black Butler 2, Animeverse.
1. Chapter 1 - Introductions

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Black Butler fiiiiiiiiic! I've had this idea for a while so it's good to finally get it typed up! Not sure how many chapters this is going to be so I'm going to just run with it and see how it goes!**

**A huge thanks to my friends Erin and Zoey (if they're even reading this…) who helped me out with something in this chapter.**

**And to anyone reading this who knows me personally, Victoria in this story is not named Victoria because that is my name, she is named Victoria because that was the Queen's name. This is not a self –insert; this Victoria IS NOT ME.**

**Hope you enjoy! Please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Black Butler, any of its characters or plot points. I do own my OC Victoria.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - Introductions<strong>

"What exactly are you anyway?" the girl asked.

I smirked slightly. "Would you believe me if I said I was a demon?"

The girl nodded without hesitation. "I would."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? That's surprising."

"Why? I believe in angels. Logic would dictate I have to believe in demons too."

I scoffed. "Angels…I've dealt with enough of them to last a lifetime."

The girl laughed lightly. "Well if you're a demon I can imagine you don't get along too well with angels."

"You have no idea," I muttered, shaking my head.

"So how long have you been a demon for?" the girl asked.

I shrugged. "Over 130 years I think. I've not really been keeping track though."

While the girl seemed to be musing about this silently I frowned to myself. Why did I feel able to divulge all this information to this girl? I didn't even know her name. For the past God knows how many years I had only had Sebastian to talk to so maybe it was simply because she was somebody new, but not having anyone to converse with had never really bothered me.

This girl certainly was strange. She seemed a few years older than me, or a few years older than my physical appearance should I say. She was dressed strangely too: trousers on a woman? I tried my hardest to imagine Elizabeth in trousers and it was such a strange thought that I nearly laughed. Nearly.

Sebastian and I had emerged from Hell accidentally. I had gotten bored, as often happened, and had wandered off. I knew Sebastian would be quite happy if I was to get lost and he never had to deal with me again but, as my butler and the demon I still held a contract with, he had to come after me when I called him whether he liked it or not. I did so and he did come, but somehow when we tried to find our way back to what we called home (in reality it was a very distorted version of my mansion which Sebastian said had been conjured up from my subconscious) we stumbled back into the mortal world.

Sebastian had asked me to wait where we had found ourselves, which was up on a hill above a small town, while he went down to try and find out both where and when we were. Just after he left this girl appeared and just started talking to me.

It occurred to me I didn't even know her name. "Who are you anyway?" I asked her.

The girl smiled. "My name's Victoria. Victoria Albert."

My eyes widened slightly. "Victoria Albert?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. My parents thought it would be funny. With my last name being Albert and all, when they found out I was a girl they decided to call me Victoria. First name, a queen of England, last name, her husband. My parents loved history so they had a bit of a weird sense of humour." Her smile had faded slightly but she turned back to me. "What about you? What's your name?"

"The Earl Ciel Phantomhive," I replied, automatically giving her my full title.

Now it was Victoria's turn to look surprised. "Ciel Phantomhive? Huh... I'd guessed you were from Victorian times but not that you'd be the Queen's Guard Dog." She started to laugh. "Hold on, that means you knew who I was named after! You actually knew Queen Victoria!"

I held up my hand to try and stop her flow of chatter and she complied by closing her mouth. "How do you know who I am?" I asked sharply. I was admittedly used to people knowing who I was when I said my title, but judging from how this girl spoke and dressed it seemed as though Sebastian and I had appeared quite far into the future from the world we had been used to back in 1889. How did she know who I was?

"I sort of inherited my parent's interest in history," Victoria admitted. "Especially the Victorian era, and believe it or not you are in the history books. Although, those books do claim that you died when you were 13." She said that last sentence with a twinkle in her eye at which I snorted and looked away.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read," I advised her.

We had been sitting on the grassy hill up to this point, myself with my knees up at my chest as if I was trying to guard myself from the world, Victoria leaning back on her arms with her face tilted towards the cloud covered sky, looking much more relaxed than I felt. She stretched after I'd spoke and turned to look at me properly, sitting up straight.

"Well, let's see how much of what I know is true," she suggested.

Driven by curiosity I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, basics first. You were born on the 18th of December, 1875. You were the only child of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive, and you inherited the title of the Queen's Guard Dog after your parents were killed in a fire in 1885. You disappeared for a while and when you reappeared a month later reports said you were very different, and that you had gained a butler who never left your side. You were engaged to Lady Elizabeth Midford, your cousin. You were declared dead on 26th of August, 1889 but your body was never found. After your death since the Phantomhive line was gone, the Queen decided to get rid of the role of her Guard Dog and left serious crime exclusively to Scotland Yard and then later on to the Secret Service."

I tried and failed to hide my surprise. I myself was very well read for my time but even I didn't know as much about people of my past as she seemed to know about me.

"Young master?"

Before I could question Victoria, who now looked quite proud of herself, about how she knew all of this off the top of her head I heard Sebastian familiar voice behind me. I tisked under my breath as I stood up to face him. "What did you find out?"

Sebastian had his wine-red eyes focused on me but they were flicking occasionally to Victoria who was still sitting down, staring at the tall demon clad in black with fascination in her eyes.

"We appear to be in the year 2013," Sebastian informed me. "The town down there is called Denham. It appears to be a 30 minute train journey to London."

"Actually it's closer to 35 minutes," Victoria chipped in, still not standing up.

Sebastian turned properly to face her and raised an eyebrow. "And may I ask who you are?"

Victoria stood up, brushing some grass from her trousers as she smiled at Sebastian. "My name's Victoria Albert," she said, holding her hand out towards Sebastian. "And from the way you addressed Ciel just now I'm going to guess that you're the mysterious butler."

Sebastian looked surprised at the display of equality that Victoria had shown by offering to shake hands with him. Back in the time we were used to it was unheard of for anyone to shake a servant's hand except for other servants. Somewhat hesitantly Sebastian extended his gloved hand and shook Victoria's. "Sebastian Michaelis," he replied. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Albert."

Victoria shook her head, still smiling. "Just Victoria is fine. You're Ciel's butler, not mine." Sebastian looked like he wanted to protest but Victoria interrupted him. "So I'm guessing you're a demon too?"

Sebastian glanced over at me and I nodded. It was fine that she knew. Sebastian complied by turning back to Victoria whose bright blue eyes were brimming with curiosity.

"Yes, I am a demon," Sebastian answered honestly.

Victoria's eyes lit up and I grimaced to prepare myself for the unavoidable onslaught of questions. But before they came something started making noise from her pocket. It sounded like a trumpet playing a rather upbeat tune before something which sounded like drums joined in. She groaned and pulled out a small device unlike anything I had ever seen before. She seemed to touch something on the device which made the noise stop before she held it up to her ear.

"Hi Mrs Jenkins," she said in a cheerful voice which did not match the annoyance clear on her face. "Yes I'm fine, I promise. I'm just at the park. No I haven't been kidnapped." She stopped talking for a moment and pulled a face at us at which I wasn't sure how to react. "No Mrs Jenkins, I'm not by myself. I met some friends up here. Yeah I know. Yes, I'm coming back now. Okay. Okay, bye Mrs Jenkins!" She touched the device again before grumbling at it and shoving it rather violently back into her trouser pocket. "Sorry about that," she said.

I looked over at Sebastian and he seemed as surprised as I was. "What was that?" I asked.

"Just my neighbour Mrs Jenkins," Victoria sighed. "She's lovely but she's always paranoid that something's happened to me. She doesn't have any children of her own so she looks out for me a lot. She's sweet, but she can be a bit tiring."

I shook my head. "No, I meant what was _that_?" I pointed to her pocket.

Victoria frowned before pulling the device out once more. "This?" she asked. "It's just my mobile." When she saw our confused faces remaining unchanged she seemed to realise something. "Oh right…Victorian era." She walked over and held the device out to me. "It's a portable telephone. I can call people from here pretty much anywhere. I can text people too. Texts are like little letters that get send electronically to someone else that has a mobile phone. There's a camera on it too for taking pictures."

Both Sebastian and I couldn't contain our amazement that such a small device could do so much. "That is truly amazing," Sebastian mused.

Victoria laughed slightly. "If you think that's good, wait till I explain the internet." She looked down the hill at the town and hummed under her breath before looking back at us. "I know! Why don't you two come down to my house? It isn't very big or anything but it's warm and there's food! Although I'm not sure if demons need to eat normal food or not…"

Sebastian chuckled slightly. "Human food has no nutritional value for us demons. However we can still appreciate the taste. And it has been over a century since my master has had a cup of Earl Grey so I'm sure he wouldn't say no."

I scowled up at Sebastian while he smiled innocently down at me. He had really been getting on my nerves of late but perhaps he would behave himself more in the presence of others. To that end I nodded at Victoria. "We would greatly appreciate your hospitality."

Victoria smiled again and started to lead the way down the hill towards the town, going into more detail about her portable telephone which I still didn't fully understand. I walked beside her, pointedly ignoring Sebastian who followed behind us. Victoria often turned to include Sebastian in the conversation and he complied, but a frosty glare from me soon sent him back into silence. Victoria glanced between him and myself but didn't say anything regarding the cold atmosphere between us. I could see something working behind her bright blue eyes though. She wasn't about to let this go, even though we barely knew her.

I glanced back once more at Sebastian and I could see his eyes were fixated on Victoria's chocolate brown hair. I knew that look in his eyes. It was the same look Victoria had in hers. He was trying to figure her out. I was trying to do the same. Why did this girl have such a fascination about us and wasn't afraid? And how did she know so much about us?

These questions played over in my mind as we followed this strange girl. Just who exactly was she?


	2. Chapter 2 - Reunited

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Second chapterrrrr! Chances are this is the last chapter I'll get up before Christmas so I hope you like it! I am actually planning a Black Butler one-shot for Christmas so keep an eye out for that!**

**Thank you so much to Esmereilda, lia and Jagaimo-san for reviewing the first chapter!**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Avadra, Esmereilda, Nightstar09, Alma Riddle, Jagaimo-san, Marisolanime fan, SeaGreenSeaGlass and CorruptFlame.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Black Butler, I do own Victoria.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 - Reunited<strong>

Rather surprisingly Victoria's small house held a pleasantly large selection of teas to choose from. Although it pained me to admit that Sebastian was right I was indeed gasping for some Earl Grey after all these years, and Victoria happily obliged.

"Sebastian? What would you like?" she asked.

Sebastian merely smiled and shook his head. "Oh, nothing for me thank you. I'm afraid I only have a taste for one thing in this world and unfortunately that one thing is now far out of my reach."

I completely ignored my butler as he glared at me with no subtlety whatsoever. Victoria noticed (which wasn't much of a feat since Sebastian wasn't even trying to hide his annoyance) but other than frowning she didn't respond.

"You think you would be over that after all these years," I scoffed, picking up the teacup full of steaming liquid that Victoria had just placed down in front of me. "You're just as bitter as you were the day I tricked you. 124 years is a long time to hold a grudge you know."

If Sebastian could have he would have strangled me right there and then. As it was he just gritted his teeth and forced himself not to growl at me. "Believe me young master, I can hold a grudge for much longer than that."

"Alright, alright," Victoria jumped in before I could respond. "If you're going to argue then take it outside. You're giving me a headache."

I was honestly ready for doing what Victoria said and carrying on my argument with Sebastian outside but then I remembered that she was showing us a lot of hospitality when she didn't have to. I may be a demon but I was raised to have good manners and I could only imagine how angry my parents would be if I was to be impolite to a girl who had done nothing wrong to me. With that in mind I dipped my head slightly at Victoria.

"I apologise," I muttered quietly, really despising the taste of those words in my mouth.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at me but didn't comment. Instead he stood, turned to Victoria and bowed. "I also apologise. It was not right of me to lose my temper in front of you when you have been so hospitable to us."

Victoria flapped her hands about a bit, shaking her head. "Please don't be so formal with me. It's fine, honest."

Sebastian complied and sat back down. He and I were sitting at the small table in Victoria's kitchen while Victoria herself was making another cup of tea for herself. While her house was very small compared to the mansion I was used to it still struck me as being too large for one person to live in alone.

When we had first arrived outside her house Sebastian had asked if her parents would mind us being there. All Victoria had said in response was that she lived by herself and had then moved onto a different subject. Sebastian had glanced down at me and raised an eyebrow but I just shrugged.

Now that we were in the house I was convinced that this was not a house meant to be lived in by only one person. There were at least two bedrooms for a start, not to mention that she was a bit young to be living by herself. She had told us that she was 16 years old, so while it was legal for her to not live with a parent or guardian it certainly was unusual. She didn't seem like the type who would move out as soon as she was old enough, although I'd only known her literally ten minutes so maybe she simply didn't get on with her parents.

As much as I did want to ask about all this I knew I couldn't since Sebastian and I had only just met her so I kept my mouth shut. For now.

Victoria picked up her mug of tea and came to sit with the two of us at the table. "So, what do you want to know?" she asked. "You must have a lot of questions about this time and stuff."

Sebastian looked at me, allowing me to have the first question. So many options flashed through my mind but I found myself fixating on one in particular. I put my teacup down on the table and looked down at my knees, swallowing hard.

"What…what happened to Elizabeth after I left?" I asked quietly.

Victoria had been about to take a sip from her drink but she stopped halfway. I glanced up and saw her eyes soften as she placed her mug down. I could sense Sebastian staring at me, presumably in surprise, but I didn't bother looking round at him to check.

"Lady Elizabeth Midford…got married at the age of 21," Victoria said quietly, looking me in the eye as she spoke. "She married Earl Phillip Kingsford and had three children, two boys and a girl. She passed away in 1965 at the age of 90."

I held Victoria's gaze as I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding. I was more relieved than I thought I'd be to hear that Lizzie lived a full life after I "died". I recognised the name Phillip Kingsford. I'd met him at multiple social events. He had only been a few years older than Lizzie and I and he'd seemed like a genuinely kind man. I would have to check later but I was confident he would have been a good husband to Elizabeth.

"Actually…" Victoria frowned slightly before pulling out the small device she had called a mobile phone out of her pocket again. "Hold on, let me check something." She was slight for a few minutes as she tapped away at the phone before she nodded to herself. "Yep, I was right." She looked up at me again. "She's buried in a graveyard on the outskirts of London."

I stood up quickly, nearly knocking over my chair in the process. "I want to go and visit it."

"Young master…"

I look over at Sebastian and saw the confusion in his eyes. I glanced down for a moment before meeting his gaze again. "I need to Sebastian."

He held my gaze for a few silent moments as the confusion faded slightly. Victoria stayed silent the entire time, not having left her chair. Sebastian nodded slowly and I heard Victoria exhale before she stood up.

"There's a train we can get in ten minutes if we hurry," she said, picking up her mug and my teacup before carrying them to the sink in the kitchen. "Get your coats."

Sebastian stood and helped me into my coat before putting his own on. Victoria grabbed a bag from the sofa in the living room before she ushered us out of the door, locking it behind her.

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><p><em>~Sebastian's POV~<em>

I wasn't entirely sure what to do. My young master was crouched next to a gravestone with his hand pressed against it while Victoria and I stood a slight distance away. I had already paid my respects having been rather fond of the small blonde girl even if she had been slightly annoying at times, but now Ciel stood alone at the grave. What I didn't fully understand was why.

Of course if Ciel had still been human I would have completely understood; grief is a very powerful emotion in humans. However we demons do not possess human emotions. We can understand them but we do not have the capacity to grieve.

"What're you trying to figure out?"

I looked down at Victoria who was still watching Ciel in the fading daylight.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Victoria smiled slightly and glanced up at me. "You've been frowning ever since we left Denham. You're trying to figure something out."

I was impressed that she noticed. "Indeed I am," I admitted. I was unsure about telling her at first but since she seemed to be comfortable talking about demons and such things so I went ahead and bit the proverbial bullet. "I don't fully understand why my young master seems emotional. He's a demon. He shouldn't be…well…emoting like this."

"Hmm…" Victoria mused. "Well, Ciel said he became a demon when the world thought he'd died, so that was 124 years ago. I'm guessing that means he wasn't born a demon?"

I shook my head. "No, he was born human. I've never heard of a human becoming a demon before him. I believe he was the first."

Victoria nodded slowly. "So…maybe that's why he can emote. Or maybe it's because he remembers what emotions felt like when he was human and he's acting on them."

I frowned slightly as I considered this. "I honestly hadn't considered that," I admitted.

Victoria shrugged. "Hey, I don't know anything about this. It's just a guess."

We were both silent for a few minutes before I remembered something I wanted to ask her.

"Those history books where you read about my young master. Who wrote them?" I asked.

Victoria laughed slightly before answering. "I believe his name was Tanaka."

I chuckled under my breath. "Of course."

Victoria grinned at me before walking up to Ciel. She placed a hand on his should and he looked round at her.

"We need to go Ciel. They'll be shutting the gates soon," she said softly.

Ciel nodded before standing up, staring down once last time at Lady Elizabeth's gravestone.

"Hey. You remember how I said she had three children?" Victoria spoke up again.

Ciel looked round at her and nodded.

"Well…her oldest was a boy. And she named him Ciel."

My young master's eyes widened. "R…really?" he actually stuttered which shocked me.

Victoria smiled and nodded. "Really. She never forgot about you Ciel."

A ghost of a smile passed over Ciel's face, a sight which strangely made me smile too. However the momentary peace in the graveyard was shattered when a flash of red streaked pass my peripheral vision.

"Surely not…Bassy?"

I gritted my teeth as I turned. Only one creature ever to walk this earth ever calls me by that horrendous name.

Grell Sutcliff.

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><p><strong>AN: Couldn't have a Black Butler fic without Grell :-P Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review and have a great Christmas!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3 - Bargain

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really sorry I haven't updated in so long. A lot of stuff happened over the holidays, and then I got bombarded with work when university started up again. Very sorry!**

**Thank you to Esmereilda and DragonSiren7 for reviewing the last chapter!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**This chapter is dedicated to violet tsubaki, emobookworm, themadhater, TheBetrayed0-0, Shiranai Atsune, DragonSiren7 and ilovepie123.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Black Butler, I do own Victoria.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – Bargain<strong>

_~Ciel's POV~_

Of all the people - or reapers in this case - who could have possibly appeared at this graveyard, why did it have to be Grell? I'd happily admit that my life had been noticeably quieter without the annoying red-head popping up out of nowhere with the sole purpose of getting under Sebastian's skin, quite pleasantly quieter in fact. Although he did have his uses while I had still been human and both Sebastian and I had used this to our advantage multiple times, I couldn't say that I'd missed him like how a small part of me missed Elizabeth or the servants or even Prince Soma.

Victoria, rather understandably, looked very confused at the sight in front of her. Sadly it was one I was rather used to with Grell attempting to hug Sebastian while my butler careful sidestepped away from him at every opportunity.

"Should I even ask what's going on?" Victoria spoke up after a few minutes of this escapade going on while she and I stood in silence just watching.

Grell apparently heard her unfamiliar voice and stopped chasing Sebastian for a moment to look over. He frowned. "Well, you're new," he stated the obvious before grinning down at me. "Why hello little Lord. Not getting over Lady Elizabeth that quickly are you?"

My fists clenched and I took a step towards him reflexly before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I glanced over to see Victoria gently holding me back. I slowly stepped back so I was beside her once again and she let go of my shoulder. "You okay?" she asked quietly. I nodded once and she smiled slightly, which I returned without really thinking about it.

Before either of us could say anything to Grell, Sebastian had pinned the reaper's hands behind his back so he couldn't move or struggle. "I'm afraid I must insist you do not tease my master in that way, especially when he only just discovered that his betrothed has past away," he said quietly but firmly to the red-head.

Grell knew it was pointless to struggle so he just smirked. "You do realise she's been dead for centuries don't you? That's old news. Although I'm guessing you two have only just emerged from Hell? And I'm still clueless as to who that one is," he nodded over at Victoria.

"My name's Victoria," she answered, still looking unsure about what to think of Grell. "And who are you? Are you a demon as well?"

Both Sebastian and Grell looked rather disgusted by that idea. "My dear, I am a Death God, or a Grim Reaper, I don't really mind what you call it. But to insinuate that I am anything close to a demon is quite simply insulting."

Victoria pulled a face. "Well so far I'm preferring demons to Grim Reapers if I'm totally honest with you. Not to mention that it looks like Sebastian has the one-up on you right now."

Grell pouted at that while Sebastian smiled and bowed his head to Victoria. "Why thank you milady," he said before turned back to Grell. "See? Even the unbiased third party knows demons are better than reapers."

"Oh yes, very unbiased," Grell huffed. "It definitely doesn't seem like she's spent at least enough time with you to know your names and to know that you're demons."

"Enough with the sarcasm," I sighed, rubbing my eyes slightly at the unruliness of the two of them trying to better each other with petty insults. "What are you even doing here Grell? For that matter how are you even here? Like you said, it's been centuries."

Grell flashed me a grin with his pointed teeth. "The same way you and dear Bassy are still here after all this time, little Lord. We reapers aren't exactly immortal but we have a much longer life span than humans do. In terms of ageing it takes about a hundred human years for a reaper to age one year."

"So you're still just doing your old job after all these years?" Sebastian asked. "Over 200 years and you haven't been promoted?"

"If you must know, I have," Grell growled. "I just chose to keep working in the field. And with William getting a new position at headquarters I am free to use my very special personalised death scythe without getting in trouble every two minutes." He motioned to the red chainsaw-like device now lying on the ground at his feet, at which Victoria raised her eyebrows. "And will you please let me go now Bassy? I'm not going to do anything. If I kill anyone not on the To-Die list then William might take my baby off of me."

Knowing that by "baby" he meant his death scythe I sighed and nodded to Sebastian to let him go. Sebastian complied, albeit a bit rougher than I imagined, and shoved Grell away from him. As he did a book fell out of the inside of his coat and landed open in front of Victoria's feet. She bent down to pick it up just as Grell snatched it away from her.

"Why are you hanging around demons anyway?" Grell asked, frowning at her. "You're mortal, are you not? And it doesn't seem like you've made a contract with either of these two."

Victoria shrugged. "I don't know what a contract entails but I've not made one. I met Ciel and Sebastian earlier today and told them about Lady Elizabeth's grave. Ciel wanted to see it for himself so I brought them here."

"Brought them how?" Grell asked. "On the train?" When Victoria nodded he started to laugh. "I bet their faces were brilliant. How did they react when they saw the train didn't run on steam?"

I frowned at Victoria. "The train didn't run on steam?"

Victoria shook her head. "You didn't notice?"

"I was...somewhat distracted," I admitted, since I'd been thinking about Elizabeth the whole time.

Victoria sensed I didn't want to talk about that anymore and quickly changed the subject, pointing to the book that was now in Grell's hands. "What's that anyway?"

"This is the To-Die list," Grell said. "It lists everyone who is due to die, when it will happen and where it will happen. As a reaper it's my job to be there to harvest their souls and view their Cinematic Record to decide what should happen to them next."

"What should happen to them next? As in if they should go to heaven or hell?" Victoria asked.

"Essentially yes," Grell nodded before he frowned. "Hang on, why am I telling you all this?"

"It's rather annoying, isn't it?" I agreed, glancing over at Victoria who was now holding her hands up.

"What did I do?" she asked in a rather high pitched squeaky voice.

"It appears my young master and Grell have both discovered the same thing," Sebastian, who was now standing next to Victoria, explained. "For some reason people are completely open with you and feel they can trust you with information they normally wouldn't tell other people."

Victoria frowned. "Well...that sounds kind of familiar. My friends always knew they could tell me private things and that I wouldn't tell anybody else their secrets. I don't know why though..."

"I sensed you were trustworthy even when I had just met you," I confirmed. "I felt comfortable telling you about me being a demon before I knew you'd been perfectly fine with it."

Victoria frowned at this but didn't say anything else. Before Sebastian or I could say anything else to her, Grell spoke up.

"Well, it has been lovely catching up with you Bassy but I'm afraid I have work to do," he said, flipping his hair over his shoulder as he picked up his death scythe. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again very soon! Bye bye Bassy dearest!" he called before jumping from the ground onto a lamppost and then over some trees, out of our sight.

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><p>The train ride back was a quiet one. It was dark by now and other than offering her house as a place for Sebastian and I to stay, Victoria didn't say anything the rest of the journey back. Now that I'd noticed the train didn't run on steam I had a great many questions for her but I could tell now wasn't the time to ask them.<p>

I was sitting facing the direction the train was going in, next to the window. Victoria was sitting across from me with a small table between us, and Sebastian was seated next to her. Victoria was leaning on the table and staring out of the window in silence, looking very thoughtful and a little bit melancholy.

When we arrived back at Victoria's house she immediately started making tea for us again, this time making a mug for Sebastian despite his protests. After Victoria had actually glared him into silence Sebastian and I sat in her living room in awkward silence waiting for her to appear. When she did, carrying a tray with three steaming mugs of tea balanced carefully on it, she sat down and handed the drinks out, taking a sip from hers before starting to talk.

"You two are welcome to stay here for as long as you want," she said. "There's plenty of room and I'd enjoy the company. Plus I get the feeling you'll need someone to show you how things have changed since the last time you were here."

Sebastian and I looked at each other before I nodded. "We would be very grateful if you would be so kind as to host us. Thank you," I replied.

Victoria smiled for the first time in the past few hours. "It's no trouble. This may seem like a strange question but do demons need sleep?"

"I do not but it seems my young master does," Sebastian spoke up. "We presume it is due to him having not always been a demon. I also can sleep if I choose to."

Victoria nodded. "Well there's three bedrooms upstairs so there's one for each of us. I don't have any bed clothes you could use though..." Victoria seemed to stop herself and looked down for a moment, swallowing before she looked back up at us. "Actually, I think I do. They might be a bit big for you though Ciel."

"I'll be grateful for anything you have," I stated honestly.

"Well tomorrow we can go shopping to get you both some new clothes," Victoria said. "You're going to need more clothes than those you're wearing now, and they're a bit old fashioned. You might attract some unwanted attention."

The train and the streets had been fairly deserted so I was still unsure what the normal dress was for this time, but I didn't have much of a choice other than to trust Victoria about this. I glanced over at Sebastian and he was smirking. I glared at him, knowing full well he was hoping that I'd find these modern clothes hideous, embarrassing or uncomfortable. I still really hated him sometimes.

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><p><em>~Sebastian's POV~<em>

After Victoria had shown my young master and myself to our respective rooms, she knocked on my door a few minutes later with a long sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers, both a plain red colour and a very soft cotton material.

"I know you said you didn't have to sleep but I figured you might want these anyway," she said, holding them out to me. "Pyjamas."

I smiled as I took the clothes from her, bowing politely. "Thank you very much. Both my young master and I are very grateful for your hospitality."

Victoria smiled back before excusing herself, saying she was going to take some pyjamas through to Ciel.

It was about an hour later when the house was quiet. I hadn't changed into the clothes Victoria had given to me, preferring to stay in my regular attire. I was lying on the bed just staring at the ceiling, not really planning on sleeping, when I heard a noise on the roof. I frowned as I listened more closely; demons have excellent hearing so I could tell it was something larger than a bird or a cat. In fact…it sounded like a person.

Wary of it being thieves (or even worse, Grell), I quietly slipped out of the room and saw a window at the end of the hallway. I opened it just enough for me to climb out and went to investigate the noise on the roof. I was rather surprised to see Victoria sitting with her back to me in a pair of pale yellow pyjamas.

When she heard me she looked round at me and smiled. "I didn't wake you, did I?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I was awake anyway when I heard a sound on the roof. May I ask what you're doing up here?"

Victoria turned away from me again so I decided to sit down next to her. She didn't object; in fact she didn't react at all.

"I like coming up here to look at the stars," she said quietly, staring up at the sky. "I like to think my parents are watching me."

I let out a small sigh. I'd suspected her parents may be dead but I had hoped I was wrong, which was strange for me. Usually I wouldn't have cared but for some reason I felt sympathy towards this girl.

"I am sorry," I said truthfully.

She glanced over at me and smiled. "Don't be, it's not like it's your fault. When did you guess?"

"At first I thought maybe you just didn't get along well with your parents so you lived by yourself," I admitted. "But when I saw the size of your house I suspected that may not be the case. And then when you said you had clothes my young master and I could wear to bed, I became more certain."

Victoria nodded. "Yeah, they were my dad's. I sold most of my parent's things but I kept some stuff. You know, memories and all that. Plus I guess at first I was trying to trick myself into thinking they'd come back."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to them?" I asked.

"Car accident," she answered simply. "It happened two years ago. It was so stupid. Some idiot had been drinking and thought he'd be okay to drive. I was staying with my uncle – my dad's brother – for the weekend and they were coming to pick me up. The drunk guy ran them right off the road. The doctors said they would have been killed on impact. The drunk guy died too."

Both of us were silent. I had no idea what to say in return to that, and Victoria didn't seem to have anything else to say on the matter.

"Could you tell Ciel?" she asked suddenly. "I know it's selfish of me to ask but I'd like him to know. I don't really want to be the one to tell him though; I don't want him to think I'm looking for sympathy given the fact that his parents died too."

I nodded. "Of course."

"Thank you," she smiled. "On another subject completely, I have a proposition for you."

I raised my eyebrow in curiosity and motioned for her to continue.

"I'll show you both how much has changed and explain everything I can to you, if you both answer my questions about demons and other such things," she grinned.

"I think that seems a fair trade," I smiled. "You already seem to know quite a lot."

She shrugged. "Not really. I don't think the information people have on demons is all that reliable. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Not that they'd believe me if I did."

Victoria stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go to bed. Night Sebastian."

She slowly started to make her way back towards a window below us – presumably to her bedroom – when I stopped her.

"Why are you doing all this for us?" I asked her. "It's not normal for someone to be this kind to people they've just met."

Victoria looked me straight in the eye, her bright blue eyes locking with my wine red ones. A flash of sadness and fear passed over her face for only a moment before she simply smiled.

"Goodnight Sebastian," she said once more, grinning as she slipped through the window.

I sighed heavily as I lay back on the roof tiles. It wasn't all that comfortable but it was rather peaceful just staring up at the moon and the stars.

This girl was strange, but I was finding I rather liked her. She was interesting, and she wasn't a push-over or frightened by the supernatural. If I wasn't already contracted to Ciel I may have considered asking her to form a contract.

I frowned slightly. Could that be her goal? Did she wish to make a contract with either Ciel or myself? I sighed once again. I suppose only time would reveal the answer to that question.

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><p><strong>AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!<strong>


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